Learning Italian: Antonio Cassano gives us the "cassanata"

When it comes to the Italian language, the locals know how to get creative.
They can make swear words into nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs and the results are generally quite funny and more often than not, become part of the national vernacular.

After the weekend’s Milan football derby between AC Milan and FC Internazionale, though, we get another term called the “cassanata”.

The term refers to AC Milan football player (previously with Sampdoria) Antonio Cassano and his spontaneous folly which often gets him into trouble.

Doing something silly in Italian can now be referred to as the “cassanata”.
After the weekend’s match, for example, in the total of about a minute Cassano managed to score a goal, get a yellow card and then be sent off with a red.

The reason? Cassano scored a penalty goal against Inter to make the final score of 3-0 and in his euforia, took his shirt off, earning himself a yellow card.
After a few more seconds of play, he made a foul on another player, got a second yellow card and therefore a red, and was sent off.

If you’re familiar with the colourful character of Cassano, none of that will be a surprise to you.
In a post-match interview, Cassano says:“Mine is a world record: goal, booking and send-off in one minute, although I’m happy to have participated in the history of the Milan derby; that way, I’ve scored in five derbies in five different cities.
While I was trying to defend against Cordoba, I was convinced I had got a yellow, but I was so happy over the goal that I forgot I had just been booked: it was a naive thing to do and I’ll pay for it.
I’ve done plenty of naive things in my career and hope I’ll always do less.
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